Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Drake class
Succeeded by	Baltimore class
Built	1741–1743
In commission	1742–1763
Completed	3
Lost	2
General characteristics (common design)
Type	Sloop-of-war
Tons burthen	243 74⁄94 bm
Length	87 ft 6 in (26.7 m) (gundeck) 73 ft 4.75 in (22.4 m) (keel)
Beam	25 ft 0 in (7.6 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) (Wolf) 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) (Otter and Grampus)
Sail plan	Snow
Complement	110
Armament	10 (later 14) × 4-pounder guns; also 12/14 x ½-pounder swivel guns

The Wolf class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1741–43. They were ordered in 1741, 1742 and 1743 respectively, and were the first to increase significantly in size from the 200 burthen tons which had been the normal size from 1728; they were to a common design prepared by Jacob Allin, the Surveyor of the Navy. For the latter two vessels, the design was modified by the addition of 6 inches to their depth in hold.

Although initially armed with ten 4-pounder guns, this class was built with eight pairs of gunports on the upper deck (each port flanked by two pairs of row-ports), and the two survivors in 1744 had their ordnance increased to fourteen guns.

Vessels

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• McLaughlan, Ian. The Sloop of War 1650–1763. Seaforth Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-1-84832-187-8.
• Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.